January: A man walks past the Bank of England in London. Britain officially entered recession for the first time since 1991, after the economy shrank at its fastest pace for nearly 30 years in the fourth quarter

Sales of Agas, the cast-iron cookers that have warmed country kitchens for generations, were dented by the recession. The company warned that trading deteriorated throughout the last six months of 2008, as consumers reined in spending on big-ticket items

A branch of Karen Millen owned by the Baugur group. The Icelandic investor, which transformed itself from a family-owned Reykjavik discount store into a major retail group, filed for protection after its main backer, the nationalised Icelandic bank Landsbanki, pulled the plug

Tom McKillop, the former chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, speaks to the Treasury select committee. The Treasury select committee received apologies for the banking crisis from Lord Stevenson, Sir Fred Goodwin, Sir Tom McKillop and Andy Hornby

Media gather at the Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin. A public row broke out between City minister Lord Myners and Sir Fred Goodwin over the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive's refusal to give up his £693,000 a year pension

People queue outside a Job Centre Plus in Bristol. The Office for National Statistics confirmed unemployment rose to almost 2.03 million in the three months to January – the highest level in 12 years and a rise of 165,000 from the previous quarter

Passengers at Gatwick Airport. The Competition Commission signalled the biggest shakeup in airport ownership in more than two decades as it ordered BAA to sell three airports including Stansted and Gatwick

April: Jobhunters check out adverts on a wall in Shenzhen, China. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned there would be a surge in global unemployment and called on governments to take 'quick and decisive action' to head-off a full-blown social crisis

Royal Bank of Scotland angered unions and politicians with plans to cut up to 4,500 staff in Britain as part of a worldwide reduction of 9,000 posts. The bank, which is 70% owned by the taxpayer, said the cuts were part of a policy to save about £2.5bn over the next three years

Alistair Darling delivered his budget, announcing a £7bn squeeze on the rich followed by a brutal freeze on public spending. The chancellor broke Labour's 2005 manifesto pledge not to raise income tax by lifting the top rate for those earning more than £150,000 to 50% from next April

May: A pedestrian walks past a poster of a Chevrolet in Santiago. Chrysler declared itself bankrupt after a handful of creditors withstood pressure from the Obama administration to forgive billions of dollars in debt, threatening tens of thousands of jobs at factories, suppliers and dealers

Europe's largest budget air carrier, Ryanair, reported its first loss in 20 years, due largely to a writedown of its stake in struggling Aer Lingus and charges related to disposals from its rapidly growing fleet. Chief executive Michael O'Leary also confirmed plans to charge for toilets on the airline within two years

August: A Lloyds TSB branch in Leeds. Higher-than-expected bad debts of £13.4bn drove Lloyds Banking Group to a £4bn loss in the first half of the year as the rescue takeover of HBOS continued to dent the bank's performance

A Mercedes-Benz dealership for German car manufacturer Daimler in Frankfurt. Germany and France emerged from recession earlier than expected, raising hopes the rest of Europe would follow. Germany, Europe's largest economy, recorded a surprise rise of 0.3% in GDP in the second quarter

Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, warned bankers he would support a new wave of taxes on the City to prevent profiteering if they continue to take excessive risks. Turner described much of the City's activities as 'socially useless' and questioned whether it had grown too large

September: Vintage Spider-Man and X-Men Marvel comic books. The Walt Disney empire announced it is to buy the superhero stable Marvel Entertainment for $4bn (£2.5bn) in a star-studded Hollywood deal that unites family names such as Mickey Mouse with lucrative characters including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men

Offshore oil rigs near Santa Barbara, California. BP reopened the debate on when the 'peak oil' supply will be reached by announcing a big new discovery in the Gulf of Mexico which some believe could be as large as the Forties, the biggest field ever found in the North Sea

Paternoster Square from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. The FTSE 100 index closed above the key 5000 level for the first time since 26 September 2008, buoyed by hopes the recession may be over and by the return of multibillion-pound mergers

October: World Bank president Robert Zoellick at the finance minister summit in July. Zoellick warned that the United States must brace itself for the dollar to be usurped as the world's reserve currency as American dominance wanes in the wake of the financial crisis

Cadbury Creme Eggs move down the production line at the Cadbury factory in Birmingham. Kraft Foods went hostile in its pursuit of Cadbury, launching a formal takeover offer worth £9.8bn that was swiftly rejected as 'derisory' by the British company's board